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View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoTom Dodge | DISPATCHThird-graders from Indian Run Elementary School play a game that involves simple computer coding. Teaching them yesterday at the Dublin Technology Center on Coffman Road was Kimberly Clavin, center, manager of STEM initiatives for the district.

Last week, the third-grade students didn’t know what it meant to “code” a computer. Even
yesterday, as they arranged computer codes to guide characters through a virtual maze, they knew
only vaguely that coding was what they were doing.

That’s the point of Hour of Code, an effort embraced by schools across Ohio and around the globe
to teach students how to program a computer. The class aims to raise the veil on what happens
behind the computer screen and stir curiosity enough that students come back for more.

“Everything on a computer has a language behind it,” Kimberly Clavin explained to third-grade
students who came to the Dublin Technology Center from Indian Run Elementary. “We are going to
write the code behind computers.”

Students spent the next hour on laptop computers arranging virtual blocks on a screen, each one
representing a command that steered characters through the maze. It was coding in a basic form, but
couched in the game was the logic of all coding, said Clavin, manager of STEM initiatives in Dublin
schools.

Along with Dublin, at least 10 other central Ohio districts organized coding lessons for a range
of skill levels this week, using tutorials and projects from Code.org, the Seattle nonprofit group
behind the weeklong push. Districts including Columbus, Bexley, Olentangy and Worthington
participated.

As of yesterday, more than 38,000 schools had registered to teach lessons to 5 million students.
Every Apple store in the country hosted classes. President Barack Obama stumped for the event, as
did athletes and entertainers.

“We want to show students that it’s not just for nerds. It’s not hard or complicated math, but
in fact computer languages are approachable, and they can be really fun,” said Roxanne Emadi of
Code.org.

But the Seattle startup has a more-serious motive, too. Co-founder and tech investor Hadi
Partovi raised $10 million to form the nonprofit this past summer in response to a shortage of
skilled programmers in the tech industry.

The group cites National Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing that the computing field is
adding 140,000 new jobs a year. Meanwhile, the number of students who earn degrees in computer
science hasn’t topped 60,000 over the past decade, according to data gathered by the National
Science Foundation.

Only 2 percent of Ohio State University graduates earned degrees in computer science last year,
university data show, although the number grows each year.

Partovi’s group blames the crunch on states that don’t require computing classes for high-school
graduation –– only 14 do, and Ohio isn’t one –– and schools that don’t prioritize the topic. Even
in central Ohio districts with the widest computer-science offerings, courses count only as
electives.

To jolt interest, the Seattle startup also is paying to train teachers as computer-science
instructors in New York City and Chicago schools, with a target of making similar deals with 100
districts. But the group also wants to use events like Hour of Code to stir demand among
students.

At the Dublin Technology Center yesterday, 9-year-old Anthony Smith said he never had the chance
to learn coding, although it interests him: On his own, he has created a few basic blogs, including
one about dogs.

“I’ve always wanted to make one of my own websites and own games,” he said.

He has an ally in Clavin, who described the lessons this week as a starting point.

“In the future, we don’t want this to be an event,” she said. “We want this to be an embedded
part of our curriculum.”